Apple Could Sell 13 Million Televisions According to Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty

Last week, Tim Cook shared that television was an area of "intense interest" for Apple, stoking the rumor mill once again that the company will come out with a TV at some point. Today, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty shared results from a proprietary survey of 1,568 U.S. heads of household from September. Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt shares some of the results of the survey.

Quote:

11% of respondents said they would be "extremely interested" in buying an Apple-branded TV set, which translates into 13 million units in the U.S. alone. 36% said they would be "somewhat interested," which could translate into another 43 million units.

The 47% who were either "extremely" or "somewhat" interested is more than twice the 23% who said they were interested in buying an iPhone and the 21% who were interested in an iPad before either of those products were released.
Respondents who owned at least one Apple device were nearly four times more interested in buying an iTV that those who did not.

46% of respondents were willing to pay over $1,000 for an iTV and 10% were willing to pay over $2,000. On average, respondents were willing to pony up $1,060, a 20% premium over the the average $884 they paid for their current TV set.

Further, Huberty lays out three strategies for Apple to fix television. The company could become a "full-blown virtual cable service provider"; partner with existing pay-TV carriers and replace their set-top box with its own; or Apple could "bundle the TV set with its existing Apple TV" box.

Of course, there have been years of speculation about a potential Apple TV. Following the release of Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, in which Jobs said he had "cracked" television, rumors have taken on a more fervent tone.

Edit2: Another thought: You have to currently Jailbreak the AppleTV if you dont want to be stupidly restricted to Apples select few video formats. The rPi (and Xbox, and every other TV addon) can do pretty much any video format.

I still don't get why I would want this product. Replace my existing Comcast /FiOS box with an Apple one that features a much more user-friendly experience and I'll be interested. But if it's considerably pricier than the competitors stuff (which isn't even unbearable, it's just a sluggish interface) that's of a very similar quality, then count me out.

An Apple television... meh...
A more advanced Apple TV (the box), yes!

It does seem odd... I don't see much, regarding hardware, that Apple could introduce to improve television sets. Functionality? Tons of opportunity. But it would seem the set top box concept would/could suffice. But I'm sure they're marketing department will convince me otherwise. B@stards!

they'll get rid of hdmi, come up with their very own standard to make it all "easy" and revolutionairy again. who needs an xbox etc right? #sarcasm

just improve the current apple tv box with a better UI, apps and siri

cant picture an actual tv taking off, at least not worldwide. theyd have to negotiate (sp) with all those content owners for each country seperately and that would be a real pain in the ass especially with all those EU regulations. we cant even get netflix or sth like hulu here cuz the government thinks its foul play or some bs

This is the infamous Katy Hubry who is, consistently, in the bottom 10% of Apple forecasts among pros and bloggers, compared to actual fiscal standings. I stopped reading when she "shared her strategy" for an Apple TV success.

This is the infamous Katy Hubry who is, consistently, in the bottom 10% of Apple forecasts among pros and bloggers, compared to actual fiscal standings. I stopped reading when she "shared her strategy" for an Apple TV success.

If its going to have the limited format support of the ATV, supporting only apples own formats, Id be hard pressed to get one. With pretty much every other brand supporting MKV and xvid streaming, Im not sure apple will succeed with their current limitations